Cub Cadet - Why the Bad Rap!

Make sure you demo one for as long as possible before you buy one. I have only heard of cut quality problems and a very high center of gravity. But I have never personally used one.Posted via Mobile Device

There's only one dealer in Austin and they are worse than bad. I haven't seen a LCO run a Cub in this area and there's very few guys on this site that run them. From what I understand there's little support for them, kind of like Tanaka. They might build a good product....maybe...but I'm not going to chance it with a piss poor dealer and little support.

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Same here. I only know of one dealer around here that sells cubs and he is not the friendliest person. But don't get wrong my homeowner cub does an alright job for what I need it so I'm sure the commercials are fine.

“Life takes on meaning when you become motivated, set goals and charge after them in an unstoppable manner.”
*Les Brown

"There is no such thing as failure. There are only results." – Tony Robbins

I own a 27 hp CC lawn tractor with a 54'' deck I use at my home. I love it. It has plenty of power to haul tree limbs and makes a pretty good cut. I've had zero problems with it and cranks up every time. I haven't had to replace anything other than blades. It has 240 hours on it and it runs like the first day I got it five years ago.
I've also ran a 50 inch residential ztr. If you're cutting off more than 2 inches, it'll clog up and clump bad but I wasn't surprised considering it wasn't commercial grade. Other than that, it's a pretty good machine and worth the money

I own a 27 hp CC lawn tractor with a 54'' deck I use at my home. I love it. It has plenty of power to haul tree limbs and makes a pretty good cut. I've had zero problems with it and cranks up every time. I haven't had to replace anything other than blades. It has 240 hours on it and it runs like the first day I got it five years ago.
I've also ran a 50 inch residential ztr. If you're cutting off more than 2 inches, it'll clog up and clump bad but I wasn't surprised considering it wasn't commercial grade. Other than that, it's a pretty good machine and worth the money

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You're putting 50 hours a year on your tractor. We run between 600-700 hours per year on each Z. There's no comparison.

You're putting 50 hours a year on your tractor. We run between 600-700 hours per year on each Z. There's no comparison.

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Other than the commercial grade engine, my tractor is a residential/light duty tractor. So 50 hours a year is the same as about 250 hours for a commercial mower because res. mowers aren't made to last nearly as long. 240 hours is a good bit for a tractor like mine and it's still running strong, that's what I was getting at

Other than the commercial grade engine, my tractor is a residential/light duty tractor. So 50 hours a year is the same as about 250 hours for a commercial mower because res. mowers aren't made to last nearly as long. 240 hours is a good bit for a tractor like mine and it's still running strong, that's what I was getting at

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It doesn't matter how much icing you smear on it, you still have a pile of junk for a mower.

Cub Commercial and Lesco were virtually the same machines and excellent at that.
I would have bought a new one if Lesco were still in business and still sold them.
They are heavy duty with quality name brand components and the actual mowers are over built like most commercial mowers are.
I just sold my Lesco Z2 60" with 25hp Kawasaki and it was an excellent mower.
I never had any problems with mine and I can be hard on equipment.
I could have bought a new one but, don't care for the dealer here. I actually looked at the new CC 60 and it really looks great.
I still have a Lesco hydro walkbehind and it's a monster.
52" cut, 19hp Kawasaki and it's the "wide track" model which means the wheel motors are set out about 6-8 inches so it climbs very well.

Over the years Lesco and CC have gotten a bad rap mostly from people who are fiercely brand loyal or who are simply uninformed.
I must admit I was one of them until I tried them.
One thing I miss terribly is the floating axle on the Lesco Z2, the CC still uses it.
Another innovative feature on the CC model are the wash ports on the deck where you can hook up a water hose at different points to the top of the deck and wash the underside.

The only way to determine what you like is to actually use it for yourself.

I was a Cub dealer for 1 year. They have had terrible quality control problems at the plant. I was worried about selling any machine without going over it with a set of wrenches to check every fastener on it. It could take hours of adjusting and fixing stuff after uncrating a machine. They commonly forget to grease fittings, if they bother to install them, before shipping. Many misaligned decks, pulleys, belts, etc.
Parts availability was terrible as a rule of thumb. Common parts could take weeks, or months to get.
The only machines I saw in their lineup that had any commercial duty design were the commercial walkbehinds and the Tank series. They were solid machines, but still poorly assembled.
We told Cub to get their junk out of our shop at the end of the first year.

I worked on a cub cadet once. It was the 48'' Z-Force "commercial" machine. The customer complained about the blades lasting no time at all... In texas with all the dust I could understand. But he was saying the OEM blades last 3-4 days of commercial cutting!!! They appeared to have no rock abuse but the ears ( lifts ) on the blades wore off super fast. Took the blades off and slapped on a set of Oregon blades and I didn't see him for 3 weeks. And on top of that the mower had the EXACT SAME SPINDLES as the homeowner lawn tractor... I'd be pissed if I bought a "commercial' machine with little dinky spindles foound on home depot junk. Just goes to show you ( the consumer) has to do some serious research before you make a purchase to make money with...